


You're The Reason I Come Home

by theloverneverleaves



Series: Shadowhunters Love Fest [10]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Gen, Jace deserves to be soft and comfy and warm, Party Prep, Shopping, Sibling Love, The End, and Alec deserves to have fun with this bf, blink and you miss it semi implied jimon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-10
Updated: 2017-02-10
Packaged: 2018-09-23 09:09:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9649190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theloverneverleaves/pseuds/theloverneverleaves
Summary: There's a big party coming up, and Isabelle insists they go shopping, because no brothers of hers get to go to a party looking like they just fell out of bed. Alec indulges her. Jace loves every minute.aka. lightwood sibs shopping trip





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written as part of the [Shadowhunters Love Fest](http://achilleanragnor.tumblr.com/post/154910608248/shadowhunters-valentines-day-fic-a-thon). Today is Familial Love day, which was a great excuse to go to my favourite set of siblings.
> 
> Come yell at me at [isabellebiwoods](http://isabellebiwoods.tumblr.com/) xoxo

“I have ten different outfits I could wear, I don’t see why I need another one,” Alec complained, tugging his own shirt over his head, reaching for the new one Izzy had given him, pulling it from the hangar.

“Because it’s Magnus’ big party, and you’re helping to host it so you need to look extra nice. Plus we just wanted to take you shopping.”

Alec pushed back the curtain of the dressing room, stepping out into the open and fidgeting a little with the navy jacket Izzy had handed him earlier. She immediately sighed, getting to her feet, settling it over his shoulders. Izzy’s exacting gaze almost felt comfortable, familiar. She took some sort of pleasure from it all, fixing everything and styling everyone in the vicinity.

It felt like it had been years since they’d gone shopping like this, the three of them together. Half the time work was so busy that they just had to grab whatever was around and go. The advent of the internet had helped - even if they had to pick up the stuff from somewhere that wasn’t the Institute. FedEx didn’t exactly deliver to apparently abandoned, unsafe church buildings.

So really, despite the fact that Alec did care about his wardrobe, half of it was the same, safe style of shirt or jacket, ordered in black, navy, or grey. The only time he managed to get something different was when he went out shopping, which he’d never made the time to do since the arrival for Clary Fray. With Valentine on the loose, and all the chaos that came with it, it had seemed selfish to go shopping. 

And so when Magnus had mentioned the Valentine’s Day party he was having at Pandemonium, Alec had every intention of just throwing something party and date worthy together from his closet. He still had a few shirts he’d refused to go demon hunting in, a nice jacket and some relatively untarnished jeans. He could make it work.

But then Izzy had caught him looking for an outfit in his wardrobe and made a big deal out if it. Insisted that this was an important day, since it was Magnus’ party and Alec would technically be helping to host thanks to his relationship with said actual host.

Thus he was currently standing in the relatively empty men’s dressing room, Jace in the cubicle next to him, Izzy ignoring whatever the staff had said and standing outside the door to her brothers’ rooms, insisting they show her everything. They’d gone shopping using glamour runes before, but paying and interacting with people tended to get a little complicated.

So instead they were the strange tattooed teenagers, which was… fine, Alec guessed. Not that he really minded what the mundanes thought of him.

He minded what Magnus thought of him. Which was something that Izzy liked to mention when he said she was being over the top with her choices. “You’re dating Magnus Bane,” she’d insisted. “You cannot be too over the top next to Magnus.”

As if he’d needed the reminder of how… everything Magnus was, and how exactly that looked next to  _ him _ . He was just some everyday Shadowhunter. He had a lot of live up to here. Which was why he’d brought help, after all. 

Jace stepped out from the room next to him, watching Izzy fuss over the fit of the jacket for a moment, smirking a little. Alec shot him a look. Jace might take some pleasure in the fact she was distracted for now, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t get payback later. Izzy stepped back after a moment before waving her hands, shooing them towards the large mirror at the end of the hall.

“Come on then, stand together and let me see your beautiful faces,” Izzy insisted, leaning against the wall, watching. 

“Aw, thanks Iz,” Jace replied, and Izzy rolled her eyes.

“Please, you remind us all how gorgeous you are weekly, this is nothing new. And now Alec’s lovely boyfriend boosts his ego as well, so don’t act like this is anything more than a statement of fact.”

“Only because our lovely sister taught us how to be so gorgeous. You rub off on us,” Jace told her, reaching for her hand and dragging her into the middle of the two of them. Izzy giggled, and Alec couldn’t help but smile, leaning a little closer. 

“Okay, okay, enough. You two look good. I think Magnus will let you in the front door like this.”

“Hey, well, he’d let Alec in if he was wearing neon lycra, and the Alec would sneak the rest of us in the back.”

Alec snorted. 

“I’m not sure Magnus would tolerate neon lycra for his big party.”

“On you, brother? I think he’d take anything.” Jace patted his shoulder, and Alec did his best to fight down the blush he could see rising on his cheeks. It was all still so new. Having a real, honest to God boyfriend, someone he loved and adored and would spend all of his time with if he could. Someone who felt the same about him in return, who’d cleaned up his wounds and defended his back and kept all of his secrets, unconditionally. Someone who wasn’t blood, doing that for him… it felt so strange but oh so right. 

For all the crap that was going on, Alec was fully aware he’d never been this happy before in his life. There’d always been something else going on in the background. Duty, family, honour. He had a job to do, had a name to protect, his siblings to look after. He’d never focused on himself before, never bothered to ask himself what  _ he  _ wanted, because it hadn’t mattered. He had other people to put first. What did it matter what  _ he _ wanted?

Only now he was free. He didn’t have to hide anymore, and he had people around him there to support him, no matter what. People who did worry about what he wanted. And that made all the difference in the world.

Hastily changing back into his own clothes, when he came out of the dressing room he found Izzy and Jace waiting for him, a pile of clothes over her arm. Alec had already asked why they weren’t shopping for her too, but apparently her wardrobe was so party ready it would put the entire store to shame. Alec had then asked if Clary borrowing her outfits didn’t limit her choices, but Izzy just smiled slyly.

Apparently sharing clothes was a cute girlfriend thing he didn’t understand. He’d never really shared clothes with Magnus. 

Not outside of Magnus’ apartment, anyway.

Izzy pushed their purchase into his arms, which Alec caught gracefully, assessing what they’d collected. Wasn’t so much, really. Just a few pieces to make them look respectable - or that was what Izzy said anyway. Alec scanned them, before glancing back to Izzy.

“Could you pay, big brother? I need to go pick up a few things. Lady things,” she said. 

“Hey, we can keep you company if you like,” Jace offered, but Izzy just snorted.

“I remember the last time you said that. You nearly had sex with the checkout girl in the staff room.”

“Hey, she was pretty!” Jace defended, and Alec bit back a smile. 

“Yeah, she was, but you don’t see Alec and I having eye sex with everyone we meet.”

“What can I say, you don’t have my talents.”

Alec snorted, nudging Jace a little in the direction of the checkout. “Come on. Let’s just pay. You’ll meet us out in the mall, right Iz?”

Izzy nodded in agreement, winking before she skipped off into the depths of the store. Alec just focused on the simple fact of buying what they needed and getting the hell out of there. Which, after Jace managed to stop flirting, really didn’t take all too long.

Knowing Izzy would need some time, Alec took a seat on one of the couches in the middle of the mall, watching the people rush by. He’d never really bothered himself with mundanes before, never been concerned for them. But since Clary and Simon… well, Alec tended to look a little more closely. Besides. Downworlders needed clothes too. Where better than a mall for that?

Realising he’d lost Jace somewhere in the process, Alec looked around, but it didn’t take long to spot his brother walking towards him, two coffee cups in hand.

“Black Americano, two sugars, just how you like it,” Jace said, offering him the cup. Alec smiled, taking it from him, letting the heat seep into his fingers.

“Thanks.”

Jace settled in at his side, looking around at the stores. It felt like you could get anything you wanted in here. Well. Nearly anything. Maybe not a Seraph Blade. Alec noticed when Jace’s eyes caught on one of the stores, an array of sports gear littered across the window.

“You ever wonder what it would’ve been like? If we’d… y’know, been mundane?” Jace asked. Alec snorted.

“Not really. Seems a little far fetched.” Alec paused, thinking back. “Why, were we hockey players in that alternate universe you tripped into?” The store was full of what Alec thought was hockey gear, anyway. Or maybe it was football. He found it difficult to tell the difference between the shirts, sometimes.

“No,” Jace laughed a little. “Angel, that would’ve been something though. We would have been amazing at it. Or I mean, that’s what Simon says.”

“Oh, so we’re listening to Simon now?” Alec asked, raising an eyebrow. Jace coughed a little on his coffee, sputtering.

“What, no, I never said that. I just, I mean, I don’t know a lot about this hockey thing and Simon keeps rambling on about shutouts and power plays and drafts and it’s like he’s speaking a foreign language.” Alec laughed a little, shaking his head.

“And I’m supposed to know any better?”

“No… no I guess not,” Jace admitted. It wasn’t like it was a thing in their family. There were no weekend sports trips, no family outings. Just training, training, training. If they did a good job, they got a brief thanks and pushed to do even better, be even deadlier.

Alec wondered if they might have been better off mundane. Had more of a life. But then, Shadowhunting was a duty as much as it was a bloodline. This was his job. He was proud of that. He couldn’t imagine his life without it. 

“What was it like? That place you and Clary ended up?”

It was a question Alec had never bothered about before. He’d been so mad at Jace at the time, so furious with him for leaving, for stealing the cup and putting Izzy in danger. He’d been so desperate to get him back where he was supposed to be, that he hadn’t really fussed about what Jace had gone through. And then Jace was gone and then… 

Well, this was the first time they’d been able to catch their breath, really.

“It was… weird. I wasn’t there for very long, didn’t see much but… the stuff I… I mean, that version of me was thinking…” Jace sighed, fiddling with his coffee cup instead of stele. Alec knew his habit for fidgeting, and chose not to press. He’d come to it in his own time. “I hope they’re doing okay. That we didn’t screw too much up for them.”

Alec nodded idly, sipping his coffee. it wouldn’t be fair, for them to have destroyed a whole other universe with their chaos. Ruining this one was bad enough, and they were trying to fix it. This shit shouldn’t be allowed to spill elsewhere. It wasn’t fair.

“I’m not sorry, you know. For any of it. We might have gone through a lot of crap, but… I wouldn’t change any of it,” Alec said sincerely. Any reality that kept Jace as his brother, his other half. That gave him Magnus and Izzy and people who cared about him. What more did he need, really? He didn’t need little things to be happy. He just needed the big ones. The ones he’d always had.

The ones he prayed to the Angel he’d always have. 

“I could’ve done without the bad parenting,” Jace joked, and Alec couldn’t help but smile, reaching out his hand to squeeze Jace’s knee gently.

“Yeah. I know.” He paused briefly, sighing. “I’m sorry, for what it’s worth.”

“Yeah buddy. I know.”

At that moment, Izzy crashed into the space between them, a space that had barely existed in the first place. She was practically sprawled across Alec’s knee until he shifted under her weight, letting her settle onto the couch.

“There you two are. Where’s my coffee?” she asked, eyes narrowing a little.

“Hey, I thought you were gonna be ages!” Jace defended, and Izzy rolled her eyes a little. 

“Yeah, well, I lied. I went to get you something,” she explained, holding out her new shopping bag to Jace. Jace frowned in puzzlement, reaching into the bag curiously. Alec watched as his whole face softened as he saw what was inside, pure joy lighting up his eyes like Alec had missed for so long. “I saw you admiring the sweaters earlier, so I went to get you one.”

“Iz, these are way too soft, you know it’ll just get wrecked-”

“Well, I decided my brother deserves something soft and comfy. Just don’t take it on a hunt.”

Alec could see the torn expression on Jace’s face. He’d been there when Jace found them, fabric so soft to the touch that it would definitely never last their lifestyle. But it was a beautiful shade of blue that brought out Jace’s eyes, and he couldn’t help but agree with Izzy. After the hell they’d all been through, Jace deserved a little joy.

“And for you, big brother,” Izzy offered, reaching inside and passing a box over to Alec. He took it with unmasked surprise, and Izzy snorted. “What, you think I’d forget about you?”

Alec chose not to answer that. Really, he wasn’t sure he’d deserved anything. 

He turned the box over in his hand, examining the fancy label. It looked expensive, and elaborate. Enough to make him want to protest alone, but Izzy laid a hand over his, squeezing gently. He glanced up into her warm, beautiful eyes, and she smiled.

“It’s cologne. Wear it to the party. You’ll drive Magnus wild,” she said with a wink. Alec flushed, which only cause Izzy to grin all the wider. She threw her arms around the two of them, pulling them closer. “Now, who’s up for pizza and garlic bites?”

As Izzy pulled them to their feet, Alec couldn’t help but think he hadn’t heard a better idea in a very, very long time. 


End file.
